Grass Roots

This essay is selected from the work of Johns Hopkins University freshmen in the course "B'more Innovative: Studying Change Through Charm City." The course explored how ideas and innovations spread through society using case studies associated with Baltimore (e.g., Johns Hopkins Medicine, Project Love — Baltimore, The Afro Newspapers, B&O Railroad). The final assignment required students to propose an innovative project and describe how they would spread or "diffuse" it. These essays summarize key concepts from several proposals.

Michael Dresser got it right in describing the trajectory of the Baltimore school facilities bill as going from "non-starter to law," but the story goes far beyond the elected and appointed officials who worked hard to make the deals and shepherd the legislation to passage ("City schools bill a political showpiece," May 17). The deeper story must include the herculean efforts of the Baltimore Education Coalition (BEC), the innovative policy advocacy work done by the ACLU of Maryland and the powerful community organizing of groups like BUILD and Child First.

Michael Dresser got it right in describing the trajectory of the Baltimore school facilities bill as going from "non-starter to law," but the story goes far beyond the elected and appointed officials who worked hard to make the deals and shepherd the legislation to passage ("City schools bill a political showpiece," May 17). The deeper story must include the herculean efforts of the Baltimore Education Coalition (BEC), the innovative policy advocacy work done by the ACLU of Maryland and the powerful community organizing of groups like BUILD and Child First.

After leading the Johns Hopkins University to a national title in lacrosse, Kyle Harrison figured he might make a living off the sport for three years. Eight years later, lacrosse continues to pay his bills. "There was no real path for a lacrosse player to go out and continue doing that for a living," Harrison said. "Candidly, that felt like an abrupt end to something I'd dedicated so much time to. It didn't feel fair. " After several years in the sport's most established pro league, Major League Lacrosse, Harrison joined some other entrepreneurial lacrosse players to forge their own path in Southern California.

It's probably unreasonable to expect the guys who brought us "Dynasty" to make a miniseries about politics and the New South that isn't lots and lots of sex and soap opera exaggeration.The only thing missing in "Grass Roots," which will begin at 9 tonight on WMAR-TV (Channel 2, is Joan Collins as as a direct descendant of Scarlett O'Hara now running for president.Aaron Spelling and E. Duke Vincent -- who have worked together on such glitz-o-ramas as "Hotel" and "Vega$" -- are the executive producers of "Grass Roots."

IT'S PROBABLY unreasonable to expect the guys who brought us "Dynasty" to make a miniseries about politics and the New South that isn't lots and lots of sex and soap opera exaggeration.The only thing missing in "Grass Roots," which will begin at 9 tonight on WMAR-TV (Channel 2), is Joan Collins as a direct descendant of Scarlett O'Hara now running for president.Aaron Spelling and E. Duke Vincent -- who have worked together on such glitz-o-ramas as "Hotel" and "Vega$" -- are the executive producers of "Grass Roots."

"Grass roots" was the watch word during the November elections, but the telephone operator says Delegate Charles W. "Stokes" Kolodziejskihas since taken to the bushes.Stokes and his District 31 runningmates ran a self-styled "grass-roots" campaign last fall to beat back nearly a dozen Democratic and Republican challengers. There were Stokes signs and Stokes bumper stickers. Stokes pamphlets arrived in the mail. Stokes volunteers even reached out and touched thousands of voting someones at home and asked them to cast their ballots for Stokes and the gang.

A group billing itself as a "grass roots" coalition of consumers and businesses" launched a campaign yesterday to abolish "the monopoly that allows Bell Atlantic to control local telephone service in Maryland."

Will Maryland voters see super PAC money spent here to influence the outcome of an election in 2012? If a certain congressional race gets close - say, the general election in the reshaped Sixth District - it's possible, even likely. Only two of the state's eight House seats are Republican. With the new Sixth in danger of slipping to the Democrats, some fat-cat super PAC might decide to throw money into advertising on behalf of the Republican candidate. Vice-versa if the Democrat needs an edge.

Editor: The writer from Bel Air who recently wanted to distance the Tea Party from the Occupy Movement. He disagreed with your editorial portraying the Tea Party as grass roots right and the Occupy Movement as grass roots left. He attempted to make very convincing arguments distancing the Tea Party from the Occupy Movement. We then get to his last paragraph where he reverts to the extreme rights' playbook. Accusations without any attempt to provide any facts to back up the accusations.

Mark Twain supposedly quipped, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. " For Maryland Republicans, the joke is no laughing matter. Gov. Martin O'Malley and Democrats all but engineered the demise of the Maryland GOP through redistricting at the congressional level. It showed in the trouncing of Republican candidates in the election earlier this month. The contest between 10-term Republican incumbent Roscoe Bartlett and challenger John Delaney in the 6th Congressional District says it all: 58.6 percent for Mr. Delaney and 38.1 for Mr. Bartlett.

Two companies trying to win approval of a Prince George's County casino have turned over almost $1 million to former County Executive Wayne K. Curry to run a "grass-roots" operation to deliver votes for Question 7 on Election Day. The Peterson Cos., developer of National Harbor, and Gaylord Entertainment, which owns a hotel and convention center there, have given $700,000 and $250,000, respectively, since mid-October to a committee controlled by...

Each year in Arundel on the Bay, the neighborhood's power goes out five, six or seven times, leaving residents in the dark with refrigerators of spoiling food and without water, since their well pumps run on electricity. "There's a part of me that's really incredulous," resident Tim Hamilton said this week, unloading years of simmering frustration during a meeting with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s supervisor of reliability. "I've never lived in a place where people buy generators like they live in a Third World country.

Robin Budish spends her days rallying support for an idea she says will make downtown Baltimore more livable — building a streetcar line along Charles Street. Budish was hired last fall as community organizer for the Baltimore Streetcar Campaign, a grass-roots group that believes a fixed rail trolley system would attract residents, boost civic pride, spur economic development and benefit tourism, retail and cultural institutions. Budish, the former executive director of Fells Point Main Street, and also a former Historic Charles Street Association executive director, has been meeting with downtown residents, business owners and other stakeholders.

Will Maryland voters see super PAC money spent here to influence the outcome of an election in 2012? If a certain congressional race gets close - say, the general election in the reshaped Sixth District - it's possible, even likely. Only two of the state's eight House seats are Republican. With the new Sixth in danger of slipping to the Democrats, some fat-cat super PAC might decide to throw money into advertising on behalf of the Republican candidate. Vice-versa if the Democrat needs an edge.

My grass has tiny orange raised bumps on the blades. It started about the beginning of fall. It seems worst where there is more shade and the ground stays moist longer. Will it kill the grass? Numerous blades are completely covered. I fertilize a few times a year, using the recommended amount for my bluegrass. Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass are the grasses most susceptible to rust, a fungal disease. Rust disease is favored by low nitrogen fertility, but this is probably not your cause.

There's irony in Sheila Dixon's parting pronouncement that "the city would continue to be 'strong' because of work on the grass-roots level and not because of 'leaders in the city'..." ("Despite scolding, Dixon remains unapologetic and silent to the end," Feb. 5). One of Ms. Dixon's final acts as mayor of Baltimore was to use her power on the Board of Estimates to guarantee approval of an agreement with a private school to occupy an acre of lower Wyman Park for the school's private campus, over the objections of Remington residents who are stepping up to bring back the recreation center that was once the lifeblood of this community.

Sentencing delayed in slaying case Sentencing for a Blood gang member who pleaded guilty to his role in the shooting death of an Edgewood cab driver in 2004 was postponed last week after the victim's family, expected to deliver an impact statement, failed to show. Darrell Levon Miller, 21, entered into a plea agreement last fall in exchange for testimony against 18-year-old Wayne Lavon Bond Jr., who police said was the gunman in the killing of Derald Howard Guess. Miller's sentencing was rescheduled for June 7. Holiday to affect senior centers, buses All Harford County senior centers will be closed tomorrow in observance of Memorial Day. Centers will reopen Tuesday.

Editor: The writer from Bel Air who recently wanted to distance the Tea Party from the Occupy Movement. He disagreed with your editorial portraying the Tea Party as grass roots right and the Occupy Movement as grass roots left. He attempted to make very convincing arguments distancing the Tea Party from the Occupy Movement. We then get to his last paragraph where he reverts to the extreme rights' playbook. Accusations without any attempt to provide any facts to back up the accusations.

Editor: A recent editorial in The Aegis expressed the opinion that the Tea Party is comprised of the "grass roots" right while the "Occupy" movement is comprised of the "grass roots" left. There seems to be an implication that these two groups are comparable in nature. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Tea Party's central purpose is to rein in out of control government spending and excessive taxation as expressed in their TEA acronym, Taxed Enough Already.